Climate change is in the air

Seattle praised for facing 'planetary emergency'

Calling global warming a "planetary emergency," elected officials and a mayoral commission presented a series of recommendations Friday for curtailing Seattle's greenhouse gas emissions.

Mayor Greg Nickels and the city were praised for leading the nation on the issue and were urged to continue in their fight against planet-warming pollution in a packed event at City Hall.

"The United States of America has really messed up on this," said former Vice President Al Gore, the event's featured speaker. "But let me tell you about Seattle."

Over the past year, Nickels has led a campaign to get U.S. cities to pledge to meet or beat the goals set in the international Kyoto Protocol, an agreement rejected by the Bush administration that strives to cut global warming emissions.

By Friday, 219 cities had joined the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Critics have questioned how much of a difference individual cities can make, but the cities signed on to the agreement include 44 million people -- and Americans are among the top greenhouse gas producers per capita.

The proposed solutions are multifaceted in their approach and include increasing bus service, building more bike lanes and parking spaces, and discouraging driving by imposing tolls and higher parking lot taxes.

There are recommended zoning changes that would encourage the creation of pedestrian-friendly communities where stores, jobs and homes are close together.

While some of the ideas could cost consumers, residents and businesses, supporters of the plan note that the strategies aren't only about sacrifice.

Some of the changes could benefit communities by cutting down on the overall pollution levels. They can boost the economy through the development of new and widely desirable technologies. Businesses and homeowners could cut costs in the long run by becoming more energy efficient, supporters say.

The recommendations will be aired publicly at upcoming meetings around the city.

The mayor is slated to come up with a final plan -- dubbed Seattle's Climate Action Plan -- in September. It will include funding sources and price tags for reaching the goals, which were not addressed in the recommendations.

But even as the city was basking in the glow of the proposal and successful recruitment of cities nationwide, some at the event already were asking for more.